


Chanel No. 5

by astudyinfic



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Noir, Corruption, Detective Magnus Bane, Detective Noir, Gen, Infidelity, Morally Grey Alec Lightwood, Morally Grey Magnus Bane, Morally Grey Maryse Lightwood, Murder, POV First Person, POV Magnus Bane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-23 05:06:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20334553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astudyinfic/pseuds/astudyinfic
Summary: Of all the offices in Brooklyn, they walked into mine.He could steal my heart.  She'd already stopped someone else's.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [sh_ficletinstruments](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sh_ficletinstruments) collection. 

> **Prompt:** A weary, cynical P.I. gets a new case.
> 
> **Week 6:** Film Noir

Rain trailed down the window, filtering the dim light from the city outside that shone into my office. Another dreary night in a series of dreary nights was upon me and I stared out into the New York gloom, feeling the gloom stare back into me. Nights like this left me wondering if it had all been worth it. Leaving home behind, after the woman I’d loved broke my heart, I thought I could make it as a PI in the city. But as the days dragged on without a new case, I began to wonder if I’d made the right call. 

I was ready to call it a night, grab my hat and walk out into that cold Brooklyn rain when _they _ walked in. Her, an elegant older woman, dabbing gently at a face that remained unstreaked with tears. A real Betty Grable, that one. A showstopper. A heartstopper. Him, sin on legs; the definition of temptation and for him, I was willing to fall. 

“Detective Bane?” he asked and my toes practically curled at the sound of his voice. It could sweet talk the devil himself and I wanted a taste of it for my own. I nodded, not trusting my own words at that moment. “We need your help.”

I gestured for them to take a seat and listen to just another sob story in a city filled with tears. Her husband disappeared, leaving her with four children and the never-ending question of what she did wrong. “All I ever did was love him. You have to believe me.”

I believed her like I believed the sun rose in the north. You could smell the guilt pouring off her from a mile away, hidden under an alluring layer Chanel No. 5. 

Sitting back, I propped my feet on the desk and looked at them, pretending to give it serious thought. “My services don’t come cheap, Mr. Lightwood. Though, I might be swayed to do you pro bono.” The man licked his lips and glanced away. In that moment, I knew I’d already won.

“Whatever it takes, Detective Bane. We just want to bring my father home. Our family deserves answers and he should be brought to justice.” His resolve was admirable but ultimately misplaced. His father wasn’t coming home and everyone in the room knew it but him. 

We shook hands and I walked them out, promising to be in touch soon. “You will hear from me within the week with answers, Alexander. Until then, say strong for your mother.” I caught her eyes, meeting the challenge in them. 

As they walked out the door, I knew two things for certain. 

One, I was going to win the heart of that man if it was the last thing I did. Which it just might be because, two, that woman - his mother - killed her husband and her son unknowingly hired me to prove it. 

Never could do anything the easy way, could I?


	2. Case closed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, the first chapter is a complete story so this isn't really _needed_ but I got excited and wrote another part. So enjoy if you wish.

In hindsight, I should have seen it sooner. Gut feelings only go so far, even when accompanied by a pretty face. 

Alexander Lightwood came into my life the way the fog rolls in from the harbor. Silent and all-encompassing, before I knew it all I could see was the shades of grey instead of the black and white case in front of my nose. He needed to solve his father's murder, needed that closure for his family, he told me. And like a sucker, I believed him, lured in by hazel eyes and soft hair.

But one plus one equaled three in this case and when I realized something wasn't adding up, I needed to look beyond those good looks and see him for what he was. A driven man, one for whom family and honor was everything. One who would do anything to protect the things most important to him. 

A far better actor than his mother.

As I dug deeper, I found skeletons in the family’s closet, ones they wished to remain buried, ones that could ruin a man like him should they get out. A father’s infidelity, a strong name dragged through the mud. They couldn’t have that. He couldn’t be allowed to continue on. 

I could see it so clearly. A couple out for an evening stroll, a surprise meeting with the favorite son. A gunshot so unexpected that shock flashed across his face before he fell to the ground, ignored by two whom he’d trusted. Left to die cold and alone, while they continued the stroll together, uncaring of the life they’d just taken.

No one mourned the dead man. Hardly anyone outside the family noticed his absence. The case could go unsolved and no one would care. Except for me.

I told Alexander as much when I concluded my investigation. His head pillowed on my chest, my hand combing through his sweat-soaked hair, the post-coital bliss lessening the accusation in my voice. “Why did you hire me, Alexander, when you knew all along who killed him?”

“It wouldn’t look right for us not to care. Someone would have come snooping, looking for answers. Better to have someone already on the payroll doing just that.”

I balked at the suggestion that I was so easily bought, but as his hand trailed lower, I lost interest in saying as much. 

“What are you going to do, Magnus? Turn us in?”

My honor as a private eye said I should, but the cops had never been kind to a handsome face like his and it would be a far colder world without him in it, while it was no worse off for the loss of Lightwood the elder. “I suppose it is one of the many unsolved murders in this city. The truth may never come to light.”

With a diabolical grin, he rolled me to my back, stole my words from my lips, my air from my lungs. The case was closed and I wouldn’t think of it again.

Brooklyn ain't known as the City of Angels and I'm no saint. 


End file.
